Both seafarers in the situation you've seen, Rodrigo and Henk, will try to find out if the other person can be trusted. They feel better if that seems to be the case; and it will give them a good feeling if they think the other might be a good colleague.

Different perspectives but same purpose

So keep in mind that there are differences. But what's behind the different perspectives is just the same. They prefer to work with people they can trust, and they hope to be a crew member that others can trust.

Only the road to get to trust each other can be different, for people from different backgrounds, but the purpose is the same.

What is culture?

A 'culture' is:

• the set of customs, traditions, and values of a society or community, such as an ethnic group, a nation

In other words:

• the social behavior and norms found in groups of people, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities and habits of the individuals in these groups [Tylor, Edward. (1871)]

Different histories, different circumstances

People in different countries have different histories. They live in different circumstances. They've had different problems to solve in order to survive and build a society. While doing this they came to form different habits. They developed different behavior that, for them, is considered 'normal'.

Another 'normal'

If I am from another culture, I will very likely have 'another normal' than the one you have.

A well-known expert in cultures is Geert Hofstede*. He speaks about

• 'the software of the mind'.

His definition of culture:

• the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another.

Countries, cities, companies

We are all people and in many ways the same. But people are also different from each other in lots of ways. A part of that is personality.  But researchers have found that groups of people can also be consistently different from other groups. That is the culture part. In this course, we will compare people from some countries with people from other countries. National cultures.

But we could apply the same thinking to other groups. We could compare people from the north of a country with people from the south of the same country. The same goes for people from different cities or people from different companies or other groups of people that live, work or do other things together for an extended period.

Each maritime company for instance has its own company culture that will very likely be different from other types of companies, but also different from other maritime companies.

A maritime culture

People in different professions can also have their own 'culture'. So you can also speak of a 'maritime culture'. Near the end of this course we will speak about maritime culture. You are a seafarer or maritime professional, so of course you already know the maritime culture. But we will speak about some research into what is considered maritime culture and what it means for safety and social interactions.

What are cultural dimensions?

Cultural dimensions are frameworks in which you can classify countries. Researchers developed these dimensions by interviewing numerous people and clustering all the ways that people can differ from each other. Those dimensions are extensively researched by important thinkers about cultures.

In this course we will help you understand people from other cultures by looking at cultural dimensions, which make it easier to work with people from different backgrounds than your own.

Cultural dimensions are based on research. By using them we can speak about differences and similarities in a more objective way.

As a seafarer, you work on a ship with several different nationalities. To be able to work together effectively, it is vital to be aware of the differences among all of you. 

Advantages of becoming culturally aware

By becoming culturally aware, you will: 

1. Learn to put your own thoughts and beliefs in perspective.
2. Learn that there is no one way to do things right.
3. Adapt approaches, thoughts, and decisions in interactions with people from another culture.
4. Break down cultural barriers and build cultural bridges.

Cultural dimensions are OK, prejudice and discrimination are not

To achieve this, you need a desire to learn about other cultures on a deeper level. Sometimes we have ideas about how people from a certain group or country are. How they behave. What characteristics they have. Some of these ideas may be based on reality, others are not. Those can be called prejudices; a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

We may even make jokes about those things. This is in itself pretty normal. Dutch people make jokes about people from Germany or Belgium, their neighbors. And it's the same the other way around. German and Belgian people have ideas (and jokes) about the Dutch. Ideas based on prejudices can be fun and innocent. However, they can also be damaging and harmful. If ideas based on prejudice keep you from building a positive working relationship with a colleague, they are harmful. Prejudice can lead to unfair treatment of people and even to discrimination.

Relationship-based versus task-based

Being more relationship-oriented or more task-oriented is the first cultural dimension mentioned in this course. It is something that a lot of people worldwide encounter. Americans and Northwestern Europeans are often on the one side of confrontations (they are task-based) and people from Southern Europe, Arab countries, Asia, South America and Africa are often on the other side. It is good to remember that there are more relationship-based cultures then task-based cultures.